MONTEREY BAY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL, AFL-CIO

931 E. Market Street ● Salinas, CA  93905 ● Phone: (831) 633-1869 ●   Fax: (831) 633-1859

www.montereybaylabor.org

 


                                                                                                                                            July 22, 2008

Dear Candidate,

 

We are pleased that you are taking on the challenges of participating in the democratic process by being a candidate for political office.  We would like to invite you to participate in the process for endorsement by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council (MBCLC). The enclosed Candidate Endorsement Packet contains a questionnaire and a labor pledge that will need to be completed in order for us to consider endorsing your candidacy. An electronic version is available upon request.

 

The MBCLC is the "union of all the unions", representing 63 Change to Win and AFL-CIO labor unions on California's central coast.  The Labor Council is a local branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The Council represents the collective interest of its affiliated unions and their more than 28,000 union members in the Monterey and Santa Cruz county area. It consists of affiliated unions that designate delegates who elect an executive board and conduct Labor Council business at monthly assembly meetings.

 

The Labor Council helps local unions within its jurisdiction with various organizing campaigns, community services, civil rights issues, and work with charity organizations. The Labor Council also lobbies with local politicians on issues of concern to working families. Because our members live in the neighborhoods, worry about the community and understand how teamwork makes life better for themselves and others, we find it important to participate and make political endorsements. We look forward to working with you as partners in the coming election cycle.

 

Please return the completed materials to our office in person, by email or by fax.

Deadlines are as follows:

Forum on Thursday, August 7, 2008.         Return materials by 5pm on Tuesday, 8/5

Forum on Monday, August 11, 2008.         Return materials by 5pm on Friday, 8/8

Forum on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.        Return materials by 5pm on Friday, 8/8

 

Karen Araujo from our staff is available by phone (831-633-1869) or email (LaborCouncil@mbclc.org) to answer questions you might have or provide any further details you may need to complete the enclosed packet.

 

Our Council has scheduled candidate endorsement forums in your area (flyer enclosed).  Please save the date for the Candidates’ Forum in your particular race. Our forums are a great opportunity for you and our members to interact face-to-face.  If you have a conflict and can’t attend our event, please contact us ASAP, and maybe we can make other arrangements.

 

Again, on behalf of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, thank you for offering your service to the citizens of the Central Coast and we look forward to reviewing your packet.

 

In solidarity,

 

Cesar Lara

Executive Director                                 

 

 

 

 

Labor 2008

Committee on Political Education (COPE) Questionnaire

2008 November Election

Thank you for responding to the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council’s 2008 COPE Questionnaire.

 

The Monterey Bay Central Labor Council (MBCLC) represents over 28 thousand working men and women and 63 affiliated unions in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.  Your responses to these questions will be used by our members and leaders to make endorsement decisions and to demonstrate the differences between candidates in member communications.

 

Deadlines for the return of your completed questionnaire and pledge are determined by your race’s interview date:

            Forum on Thursday, August 7, 2008.            Return materials by 5pm on Tuesday, 8/5

Forum on Monday, August 11, 2008.            Return materials by 5pm on Friday, 8/8

Forum on Tuesday, August 12, 2008.            Return materials by 5pm on Friday, 8/8

Submissions may be emailed, faxed, or presented in person to MBCLC’s office.

Email Address:  laborcouncil@mbclc.org Fax Number:  831-633-1859

Location: 931 East Market Street, Salinas CA 93905

Background

 
 
Name:                   

 
 
Office Sought:

 
 
Home Address

 
 
Occupation:         

 
 
Employer:

 
 
Work Address:

 
 
Work Phone:

 
 
Campaign office address:

 
 

 
 
Phone:

E-Mail:

 
 
Political Consultant:

 
 

 
 

 
 
Campaign ID Number:

Political Party:

Continued

Which public offices have you held? (Please include dates of service)

 

Have you failed to vote in any elections in the past five years? If so, why?

 

Briefly describe your educational background.

 

Briefly describe your work background.

 

Please describe your work with union members in any previous positions.

 

Are you a union member?   To which unions have you belonged?

 

What was your level of participation (steward, officer, member of bargaining team, etc.)?

 

Have you ever walked on a union picket line? If so, please list your three most recent pickets.

 

To what fraternal, professional, civic or social organizations do you belong?

 

From what other groups are you seeking or have you received endorsements

 

Do you plan to seek higher office?

 

How much do you plan to spend on your campaign?  How much have your raised so far?

 

A.  Overview

 

1.      Briefly describe your key legislative priorities if elected.  What boards or committees would you be interested in serving on?

 

2.      What qualities distinguish you from other candidates for this office?

 

3.      If the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council endorsed you, would you carry that endorsement on your materials?

 

4.      What role would the Labor Federation and its unions play in consulting and advising you and your staff on important issues affecting California’s workers?

 

B. Promoting Workers’ Freedom to Choose a Union

Union membership is about more than just better wages and benefits. With a union, workers gain a voice on the job. Union membership also improves productivity and contributes to the economic vitality of the state. Polling shows that 56 percent of workers would join a union tomorrow if given a free choice. Yet every day in California and across the country, workers are denied that freedom.  Employers routinely intimidate, harass, and threaten workers who try to form a union or bargain a fair contract.  In fact, in 25% of union elections, a worker is fired for exercising his or her right to join a union. 

Workers are demanding labor law reform to protect our right to organize. We need majority sign-up, or “card check,” which allows workers to choose whether or not to form a union free from fear and intimidation. Under majority sign-up, workers who want a union sign a card asking the union to represent them in collective bargaining, and if a majority signs cards, the union is entitled to recognition. Majority sign-up is a top priority for the Labor Movement nationwide and, here in California, we are committed to expanding and strengthening our right to organize.

 

  1. What have you done to support workers’ rights to freely join a union?

 

  1. Have you supported any legislation to support workers’ rights to organize? What type of legislation would you support in the future to promote workers’ rights to organize?

 

  1. Will you walk on picket lines and speak at rallies in support of workers who are trying to form a union and win a fair and equitable contract?  [THIS SAME QUESTION WAS ASKED ABOVE]

 

  1. When workers are trying to form a union, will you actively urge employers to remain neutral, voluntarily recognize a union when a majority has indicated the desire to join a union, and negotiate in good faith for a first contract?  If not, why not?

 

  1. Do you believe employers who receive county or state funds should be prohibited from using those funds to oppose efforts by their employees to unionize?

 

  1. Do you pledge to meet personally with authorized union representatives at their request?

 

  1. Do you pledge to make it a standing policy of your office to address concerns from union representatives in a prompt and responsive manner and to communicate this policy to your staff?

 

 

Please indicate whether you support or oppose the following policies and explain your support or opposition.

  1. Enacting labor law reform at the National level to strengthen and safeguard the right to organize.

 

  1. Providing majority sign-up rights to all workers so they can organize a union free from employer intimidation. Popularity known as Card Check Neutrality 

 

  1. Ratifying gaming compacts without providing majority sign-up rights for workers.

 

  1. Which of the following steps would you be willing to take to resolve a labor dispute involving employers who receive public funds?

 


    1. Write a letter to the employer to express support for the union
    2. Call the employer to express support for the union
    3. Allow your name and picture to be used in a leaflet distributed

to employees

    1. Participate in public action, such as a rally, picket line, march,

or press conference

    1. Direct public authorities to investigate whether the employer is

using public funds appropriately

    1. Provide the employer with additional funds to enable the

employer to resolve economic issues in negotiations

    1. Suspend or terminate the employer's public funding
    2. None of the above
    3. Other:  __________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

 

C. Health Care

Nearly seven million Californians lack health insurance, and one million more will join them over the next five years if we don’t act now. Health care costs have at least doubled the overall rate of inflation each year for almost a decade, and workers are paying a greater share of these costs than ever before. Year after year, union members and their families must sacrifice wage increases and retirement security to maintain their health benefits. Legislation that forces more costs and risks onto the backs of working families will not solve the state’s health care crisis. Real health care solutions require both expanding coverage and tackling rising costs.

 

Please indicate whether you support or oppose the following policies and explain your support or opposition.

  1. Requiring employers to meet a minimum health care spending requirement, similar to a minimum wage, for all their workers

 

2.      Providing health care coverage to all California children regardless of their immigration status.

 

3.      Fully funding safety net services including public hospitals, community clinics and emergency rooms.

 

4.      Requiring the public disclosure of major corporations, like Wal-Mart, who failed to provide affordable health benefits, leaving workers to rely on public health care programs.

 

 

D. Ensuring Economic Security for California Families

Working families in California face increasing economic uncertainty. With stagnant wages and soaring home foreclosure rates, many working families are just one paycheck away from losing their homes. The jobs that are being created in California are in sectors paying 40% less than those sectors in which jobs are being off-shored and outsourced. Ongoing attempts to privatize retirement benefits – at the state and national level – continue to threaten retirement security. We need to increase wages, improve access to health care, preserve secure retirements, and expand worker protections to make sure that California workers can support their families.

In addition, workers who are injured on the job have seen their rights and benefits greatly reduced under workers compensation reform. Workers are routinely denied access to necessary medical care, employers are reluctant to return them to work even after they recover, and permanent disability benefits have been slashed by an average of fifty percent. We need to restore dignity to injured workers and fairness to the system.

  1. What have you done to promote economic security for working people?

 

  1. Would you oppose any efforts to weaken basic worker protections, such as the 8-hour day, guaranteed lunch breaks, and prevailing wage? 

 

  1. How would you improve labor law enforcement in the underground economy?

 

Please indicate whether you support or oppose the following policies and explain your support or opposition.

  1. Indexing the minimum wage so it is adjusted each year to keep pace with changes in the cost of living.

 

  1. Requiring private companies that contract to provide government services to report the number of workers they hire outside the state and country.

 

  1. Privatizing or contracting out of public services.

 

7. Requiring contractors to pay prevailing wage rates to workers.

 

  1. Requiring developers to enter into to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).

 

  1. Privatizing retirement benefits, including public pensions in California and Social Security benefits at the national level.

 

  1. Expanding Paid Family Leave in California.  

 

  1. Increasing penalties on employers who intentionally misclassify workers as independent contractors to avoid providing benefits and workers compensation insurance.

 

  1. Reducing workers’ compensation benefits for injured workers.

 

  1. Placing restrictions on which physician a worker can see for a workers’ comp injury.

E. Creating a Fair State Budget and Tax System

California cities and schools are facing a projected budget deficits, and the impact of any new cuts will be devastating for communities. We must find ways to increase revenue, as well as the political will to make responsible budget and tax policy.

Please indicate and explain whether you support or oppose the following policies and explain your support or opposition.

  1. How would you seek new sources of revenue?

 

2.      Requiring more frequent property tax assessments on commercial properties.

 

  1. Requiring tax audits for employers who violate labor laws such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and the minimum wage.

 

  1. Disclosing which corporations receive tax credits.

 

  1. Would you support going to voters to raise revenue to support cities and schools (bonds or parcel tax)?

 

F. Investing in Education and Workforce Development

California faces an impending workforce crisis. Skill shortages, due largely to mass retirements and growth, are projected for a range of highly skilled occupations in industries critical to California’s economic base. According to the State’s Economic Strategy Panel, job openings by 2014 will reach over half a million in the healthcare, manufacturing, and infrastructure/construction industries alone. These are high wage jobs, many of which do not require a college degree. 

 

There is mounting concern that California’s existing education, training, and retraining systems are ill-equipped to provide the skilled workforce our state needs. Too many young people are not graduating from high school, too few high school graduates have basic technical skills, and working adults have limited opportunities for lifelong education and career advancement.

 

  1. Briefly describe the key changes you would propose to enhance educational quality and improve educational opportunities for primary, secondary and higher education.

 

  1. What are your thoughts on No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?

 

  1. How would you make public job training, retraining, and skill upgrading available to more California workers? 

 

Please indicate whether you support or oppose the following policies and explain your support or opposition.

 

  1. Creating a school voucher program that diverts money from public schools.

 

  1. Expanding union apprenticeship programs and labor-management training partnerships.

 

  1. Creating new funding sources to train and retrain workers for the Green Economy.

 

  1. Expanding Career Technical Education (CTE) programs.  

 

G. Fighting Privatization and Contracting Out

Some elected officials -- operating under the smokescreen of market efficiency -- are pursuing ill-conceived efforts to privatize public services. A growing body of research shows that experienced public-sector workers are more efficient and reliable, and provide better-quality service.  Privatization or contracting-out of public services must never be used as a means to undercut wages and benefits, or undermine union contracts.

  1. What is your position on privatization or contracting out of public services? Under what conditions would you support privatization?
  2. How would you bring contracted-out or privatized services back into public administration?
  3. Would you support legislation requiring that privatization be subject to public hearings, to provide full disclosure of cost comparisons, and quality of services.  If not, why not?
  4. Would you support legislation requiring local government, schools and local agencies to adopt contracting provisions similar to those in the Government Code affecting state workers? These provisions restrict contracting out to those urgent circumstances or special situations where public workers cannot do the work.  If not, why not?

 

SIGNATURE

I attest that these answers represent my actions and beliefs, are now part of my public record, and may be used by the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council and other AFL-CIO unions to keep union members informed about important issues.

 

___________________________________________          _____________________

Signature                                                                                 Date   

___________________________________________         

Printed Name

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                             

PLEDGE TO HONOR UNION LABOR

As a condition of receiving the endorsement of the

Monterey Bay Central Labor Council,

I pledge the following;

 

            I pledge to use my office and position to address the rights and interests of            workers and union members in my district, our state and in this nation.

 

                        I pledge to oppose all efforts that would erode the rights of union members and     working people, including the right to union representation and collective bargaining, the     right to overtime pay, the right to work place health and safety protections, and the right      to organize.

 

                        I pledge to honor union picket lines, the collective bargaining process, and union    labels and shop cards.

 

___________________________________________          _____________________

Signatur